![]() ![]() In an aquarium, they are handy at controlling pest snail species.Īs amazing as they are, puffers have some unique care requirements that make them best suited for those with some aquarium-keeping experience. Some are omnivorous, but they are mostly meat-eating predators that catch their prey using open water, stealth, and ambush techniques. They range in size from as small as one inch 9 (2.5 cm) to over 2.5 feet (76 cm). While most are marine inhabitants, there are also freshwater and brackish water species. Worldwide, there are more than 120 species of puffers. Until more research is done, we can only speculate how these rare and unusual encounters ended.Beloved for their expressive faces and playful interactions, puffer fish are eye-catching additions to home aquariums. Similar footage of battles between pufferfish and octopuses have appeared online in recent years, all of which ended before a winner was crowned. It’s anyone’s guess who came out on top, says Miller. Still, it remains unclear why the octopus would go after such formidable prey-perhaps the reef had become devoid of bivalves and crustaceans. The boneless, muscular arms of an octopus are so soft and malleable, they can wrap around sharp edges without piercing their skin. Hanlon suspects this octopus was either unaware of the danger or immune to the poison.īut even if the octopus was immune to the toxic innards of the fish, how could it possibly consume an animal covered in sharp spines?Īccording to Hanlon, spikes and spines offer little defense against octopuses. Although tetrodotoxin is toxic to humans, no one knows how octopuses are affected by it. A single pufferfish can contain enough tetrodotoxin to kill 30 adult humans, and there is no known antidote. This neurotoxin makes the fish taste foul to predators and is at least 1,200 times more potent than cyanide. Nearly all species of pufferfish harbor tetrodotoxin in their internal organs. “It’s interesting that is willing to take on this very strange fish, which we know is poisonous,” Hanlon says. “It gives them the ability to eat small critters and really big ones.” Decent defenderĪlthough Hanlon believes the octopus in the video could have consumed the pufferfish, he wonders why it would want to. “There aren't many animals that eat that way,” Hanlon says. ( This battle between an octopus and a crab has a surprising twist.) Then, once they’ve got a good grip on it, they bring the prey towards their mouth where it can be hacked into bite-sized pieces by their parrot-like beak, and if necessary, injected with a paralyzing agent housed in the octopus's posterior salivary glands. First, they latch onto their victim using the highly-sophisticated suckers that line the underside of their arms. Octopuses employ a unique hunting strategy when going after fast-moving prey. ( Watch as octopus eats jellyfish, then clings to it as likely weapon.) Octopuses feed primarily on crabs, mussels, and other invertebrates, but they’ll occasionally go after reef fish and other cephalopods, according to Hanlon, who has authored two books on cephalopod behavior. Go Beyond: Explorer David Lang is using underwater drones to understand what lies below. “They can extend their arms and web to make the functional gape of their mouth enormous.” “These animals can take on prey items as big as they are,” Hanlon says. Proficient predatorīig blue octopuses, also known as day octopuses (a reference to their diurnal nature) are fully capable of taking down something their own size, says Roger Hanlon, senior scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. ![]() ![]() Taylor and Miller had to surface before a victor could be crowned, so no one knows how this encounter ended-but scientists can speculate. The two carried on like this for nearly 15 minutes, both refusing to yield. Then, perhaps realizing the fish was far too big to fit in the crevice, the octopus emerged from beneath the coral and enveloped the bloated, spiny puffer with its muscular arms. The divers watched as the octopus spent several minutes trying to pull the fish into its hole, but the fish never budged. The octopus had the puffer in its grasp and was attempting to drag it into a crevice in the coral. But a recent encounter between the two suggests the creatures may nonetheless be equally matched.Įarlier this month, divers Chris Taylor and Carrie Miller were exploring a coral reef off the coast of Fregate Island in the Seychelles when they came across a big blue octopus and a pufferfish locked in a stalemate. The same cannot be said about the humble pufferfish. Octopuses are among the most sophisticated predators in the animal kingdom. ![]()
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